GitHub Agentic Workflows

Version, identity and verification scope

This is the complete related publisher workflow reference at .github/aw/github-agentic-workflows.md, titled GitHub Agentic Workflows. Its full body, exact Git tree path and blob were checked on2026-10-18 UTC, with GitHub MIT attribution retained. It documents Markdown/YAML workflow triggers, tools, permissions and safe outputs. Official original not verified for the old Skill: this file has no Skill name metadata and is not recovery of that SKILL.md. Relative and self-reference links resolve to the publisher resources. Companion bodies, current installation and workflow execution were not tested. The catalog display name, repository, identity, install command and install count are preserved.

Related publisher reference

Complete related reference: GitHub Agentic Workflows

GitHub Agentic Workflows

Persona-to-Pattern Quick Matrix

Persona-lens view of the same facts as the canonical Decision Matrix in triggers.md; update both when a trigger/tool/output mapping changes.

Persona	Preferred trigger and scope	Typical read tools	Typical write path	Explicit noop rule
Backend Engineer	pull_request with paths: scoped to migrations, schema, and API contracts	github (gh-proxy)	add-comment for PR-local findings; create-issue only for cross-cutting incidents	noop when no backend contract files changed
Frontend Developer	pull_request with paths: scoped to UI, design-token, and asset files	github (gh-proxy), optional playwright, optional cache-memory for baselines	add-comment	noop when no UI/token files changed or no actionable visual/token issues were found
DevOps Engineer	workflow_run for GitHub Actions failures, deployment_status for external deployment failures	github (gh-proxy) with actions: read or deployments: read	create-issue with stable dedup key	noop when status is non-terminal, self-recovered, or an open incident already exists for the same dedup key
Program Manager	schedule (+ workflow_dispatch for previews and backfills)	github (gh-proxy)	create-issue with close-older-issues: true for recurring digests	noop when the reporting window contains no qualifying updates
Designer	pull_request with paths: scoped to UI, design-token, copy, and asset files	github (gh-proxy); optional playwright for visual checks	add-comment on the PR	noop when scoped paths are unchanged or no actionable design/token issue is found
Legal / Compliance	pull_request with paths: scoped to dependency manifests or policy docs for PR reviews; schedule for recurring audits	github (gh-proxy)	add-comment for findings; create-issue only for violations requiring team-wide follow-up	noop when no in-scope files changed or all findings are in the allowed tier; always search for an existing open issue before escalating

Persona-to-Toolset Matrix

Persona	Default toolset is enough when...	Name optional tools when...
Program Manager	Digest/report uses GitHub data only (tools.github.toolsets: [default])	Add cache-memory only when trend baselines/deltas must persist across runs
Designer	PR review is metadata/content-aware via GitHub reads only	Add playwright for screenshot/visual checks; add cache-memory when baselines or snapshot history are required
Legal / Compliance	Policy/dependency review is repo-state and metadata driven	Add cache-memory when recurring audits need prior-run evidence/comparison state

Replace Previous Results

When a recurring digest or PR-reactive update is superseded by the newest result, prefer replacing the prior output instead of accumulating stale results:

• For recurring issue digests, use create-issue with close-older-issues: true.
• For rolling PR comments, use add-comment with hide-older-comments: true.

Wait for the previous result when only one active issue or PR should exist; keep prior outputs when each result is intentionally distinct or history is required.

File Format

Agentic workflows are markdown files with YAML frontmatter.

---
emoji: 🧠
name: My Workflow
description: Short description
on:
  issues:
    types: [opened]
permissions:
  contents: read
  actions: read
strict: true
network:
  allowed: [defaults, github]
tools:
  github:
    mode: gh-proxy
    toolsets: [default]
safe-outputs:
  add-comment:
---

# Workflow Title

Natural language instructions for the AI agent.

Recompilation Rule

See workflow-editing.md for when gh aw compile is required.

Core Rules

• Set strict: true for production workflows.
• Limit bash access to what the workflow actually needs.
• Keep agent-job permissions read-only when writes are handled solely by safe outputs. For example, add-comment needs pull-requests: read to inspect a PR, not pull-requests: write; create-issue needs issues: read to check existing issues, not issues: write. Safe-output writes run in separate jobs with their own permissions.
• For visual regression workflows, explicitly name the baseline source (for example cache-memory key, artifact, or branch path). See visual-regression.md.

See workflow-constraints.md for the security posture (read-only job, safe-outputs routing, gh-proxy/cli-proxy, network constraints, sanitized text), safer-alternatives pattern, and common risk areas.

Repository-Specific Instructions

Use @.github/aw/instructions.md as the canonical repository-local overlay for workflow authoring standards.

• This file is optional and repository-owned.
• Installed gh-aw agents should load and apply it automatically when present.
• Precedence: apply upstream defaults first, then apply repository overlay rules; when they conflict, repository overlay rules win.

Trigger Selection

Use the smallest trigger that matches the requested automation. See the Decision Matrix in triggers.md for the canonical trigger-to-use-case mapping, and workflow-constraints.md for the security posture.

Use pull_request with paths: for checks that need only changed files. When a PR check depends on an artifact produced by another Actions workflow, use workflow_run scoped to that workflow with types: [completed] and gate on a successful conclusion, rather than racing the artifact producer on pull_request. Use schedule (with workflow_dispatch for manual runs) when an audit must correlate results across runs or inspect drift independently of a single PR or CI run.

Ad Hoc Scenario Evaluation

Installed gh-aw agents should support scenario evaluation requests that do not create workflow files.

• Treat prompts such as agentic-workflows evaluate this scenario without creating files as ad hoc evaluation mode.
• For explicit research/evaluation requests, invoke with wording such as agentic-workflows evaluate this scenario without creating files or agentic-workflows research this workflow pattern and return recommendations only.
• Return a compact design recommendation covering trigger, scope, tools, permissions, safe outputs, noop behavior, and any report window / grouping / deduplication requirements.
• Offer to turn the recommendation into .github/workflows/<workflow-id>.md only if the user asks to proceed.

Supported Invocation Surface

Ad hoc scenario evaluation is a conversation-mode capability of the installed agentic-workflows custom agent, not a CLI flag or MCP tool parameter — no gh aw CLI/MCP command accepts a freeform prompt/scenario/query parameter. See Invocation Surface in create-agentic-workflow.md for the full explanation and recovery steps if a tool call returns Unknown parameter.

Program Manager digest example

on:
  schedule: weekly
  workflow_dispatch:
permissions:
  contents: read
  issues: read
tools:
  github:
    mode: gh-proxy
    toolsets: [default]
safe-outputs:
  create-issue:
    close-older-issues: true

• Reporting window: 7 days, ending at run time; use workflow_dispatch for previews, reruns, or backfills of a prior window.
• Grouping dimensions: group items by owning team or repository, then by status (in-progress, blocked, at-risk).
• Dedup key example: pm-digest:<window-id> (for example pm-digest:2026-W33); combine with close-older-issues: true so each run supersedes the previous digest issue instead of accumulating duplicates.
• Call noop when the reporting window has no qualifying updates.

Non-technical persona examples

Trigger and write-path are the same as the Persona-to-Pattern Quick Matrix above. For ad hoc evaluation, also gather:

Persona	Key prompt details
Program Manager	Report window, grouping dimensions, stable dedup key, and noop for empty windows
Designer	Review rubric (accessibility, token consistency, asset policy); noop when scoped files unchanged
Legal / Compliance	Classify against policy tiers; dedup before escalating; noop when no in-scope change or violation

PR Checks with Linked References

When a PR analysis requires verifying or attaching a linked artifact (design doc, policy link, architecture decision record, or approval), follow this compact pattern:

1. Read the linked reference from the PR body or comments (for example, a URL, a markdown link, or an ADR reference token like ADR-NN) using gh pr view.
2. Validate the link — confirm the document exists and is accessible before assessing compliance.
3. Classify the result:
   • Link present and satisfies requirement → add-comment with a ✅ summary
   • Link present but does not satisfy requirement → add-comment flagging the specific gap
   • Link missing → add-comment requesting it, or create-issue if policy requires a blocking escalation
4. Call noop when the PR is not in scope (for example paths: guard excludes all changed files).

Permissions: pull-requests: read only; all writes route through add-comment safe output.

For the full dependency-license/compliance review pattern (paths scoping, license-tier classification, escalation table), see Compliance review guidance.

Reference Files

Topic	File
Editing and recompilation rules	workflow-editing.md
Architectural and security constraints	workflow-constraints.md
Common design patterns	workflow-patterns.md
Git-backed work queue dispatchers, workers, and CLI inspection	work-queue.md
Frontmatter schema index	syntax.md
Safe outputs index	safe-outputs.md
Trigger patterns	triggers.md
Context expressions and {{#if}} templates	context.md
Declarative engine configuration	configure-agentic-engine.md
Agent runtime selection (Docker, Cloud Hypervisor, ARC DinD)	agent-runtime-instructions.md
Private-repository enclaves (preview)	enclaves.md
CLI commands and MCP equivalents	cli-commands.md
Network configuration	network.md
Memory and persistence	memory.md
Drive memory (private preview)	drive-memory.md
Imports and shared components	reuse.md
Sub-agents	subagents.md
Skills	skills.md
Token cost optimization	token-optimization.md
GitHub MCP server configuration	github-mcp-server.md
GitHub MCP server per-toolset tool reference	github-mcp-server-tools.md
GitHub MCP server pagination limits	github-mcp-server-pagination.md
Compiler-generated jobs, credentials, and job graph	jobs.md
Campaign and KPI patterns	campaign.md
Experiments and A/B testing	experiments.md
Charts and Python data visualization	charts.md
LLM API endpoint discovery	llms.md

Compile Commands

gh aw compile
gh aw compile <workflow-id>
gh aw compile --purge
gh aw compile --strict

Original metadata

description: GitHub Agentic Workflows
applyTo: ".github/workflows/*.md,.github/workflows/**/*.md"

Attribution and license

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